“We should never despair, our Situation before has been unpromising and has changed for the better, so I trust, it will again. If new difficulties arise, we must only put forth new Exertions and proportion our Efforts to the exigency of the times.” —George Washington

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

The Culture of Dependence

Michael Baronne has a good piece over at Investors Business Daily today about the battle over the "culture of dependence." The column is focused on the Tea Partiers, but it really is central to how we define ourselves as a people and a nation. When someone of a conservative bent says "we don't want to be like Europe," what she is really saying is "we don't want to be dependent on the government."

The whole progressive movement in this country is built around providing goodies to people...one line of people queued up with their wallets open - one line queued up with their hands out, and the noble, good government at the head of the line pulling the money from one and handing it to the other (taking a little off the top each time.) The American experience is not one of dependence, it is one of fierce INdependence and our Founding Fathers warned us frequently of the moral hazards of relying on someone else: "Charity is no part of the legislative duty of government." (James Madison)

We are reaching the tipping point, the highway to Galt's Gulch, the razor's edge wherein the line of those that receive largesse from the government exceeds the line of those that give. When that happens, a new founding father words will rule: "from each according to his means, to each according to his needs." When you hear a conservative say "we want our country back," this is what they are desperately trying to avoid.